Dilian Francisca Toro Torres (born 6 January 1959) is a Colombian physician and politician, she served as

Senator of Colombia The Senate of the Republic of Colombia () is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, Chamber of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non ...

from 2002 to 2013. She was investigated by the

Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia The Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia () in Bogotá is the highest judicial body in civil and penal matters and issues of criminal and civil procedure in Colombia. The court consists of twenty three judges, elected by the same institution i ...

on charges of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

, and remained under

preventive detention Preventive detention is an imprisonment that is putatively justified for non- punitive purposes, most often to prevent further criminal acts. Preventive detention sometimes involves the detention of a convicted criminal who has served their sente ...

from 25 July 2012 to 1 August 2013 at the Police Centre for Higher Studies (Cespo) in Bogotá. She currently serves as

Governor of Valle del Cauca Department The governor of Valle del Cauca () is the maximum administrative and political authority in the Valle del Cauca Department of Colombia. This political official is elected by popular vote by means of a simple majority system and for a period of fo ...

Personal life

Dilian Francisca was born on 6 January 1959, in Guacarí, Colombia. When she was 15 years old, she co-founded ''Casa de la Cultura of Guacarí'', a non-profit cultural organization working with at-risk groups. She studied medicine at the Free University of Colombia, at Cali, where she graduated as

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education trad ...

; she latter attended

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (, UFRJ) is a public university, public research university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the country and is one of the Brazilian centers of excellence in teaching and r ...

, in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, where she specialized in

Rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

. Upon returning to Colombia, she was elected councilwoman for the Municipality of Guacarí, and in 1992 she became Mayor of Guacarí post which she occupied until 1994. In 1996, she married former Senator Julio César Caicedo Zamorano in a religious ceremony officiated in the ''San Juan Bautista de Guacarí'' church, that same year she was named Secretary of Health for the Department of Valle del Cauca. Toro inherited the political support once held by the former liberal party leader in Valle del Cauca Carlos Abadía who was jailed as part of the 8000 process scandal, in which members of the Cali Cartel financed the political campaigns of numerous politicians including the presidential campaign of

Ernesto Samper Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). He is a lawyer, economist, academic and pol ...

who resulted elected.

Senator of Colombia

Toro was first elected to Congress as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

candidate in the 2002 Legislative Elections receiving a total of 71,721 votes. Because of her support for President

Álvaro Uribe Vélez Álvaro or Álvar (, , ) is a Spanish language, Spanish, Galician language, Galician and Portuguese language, Portuguese male given name and surname of Germanic Visigothic origin. The patronymic surname derived from this name is Álvarez (surname), ...

and his bid for re-election, Toro was sanctioned by the Liberal Party in 2004, which prompted to join a splinter group of Congresspersons from different parties who joined to form the Social National Unity Party and backed President Uribe. In 2006 Toro was re-elected senator, and elected by her peers as President of the Senate of Colombia.

Presidential band incident

During the inauguration ceremony of President Uribe for his second term, as president of the Congress of Colombia, she became the first woman to ever administer the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...

to the President of Colombia. There was a controversy however, Toro made a mistake and placed the presidential band backwards, with the Colombian flag colors inverted. When Toro was interviewed about this, she explained that "it was to bring good fortune to the new government... ...because you are supposed to wear your panties inverted for good luck".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toro, Dilian Francisca 1959 births Living people Politicians from Cauca Valley Free University of Colombia alumni Colombian physicians Rheumatologists Colombian women in politics Mayors of places in Colombia Colombian Liberal Party politicians Social Party of National Unity politicians Presidents of the Senate of Colombia Women rheumatologists 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians